Don't Forget Me
by Littletrap
Summary: There are new bad guys in town. One of Naruto's friend has gone missing. When he goes search for his friend, a mystery unveils. Sasuke has not gone after Orochimaru. SASUKE and KAKASHI fight first chapter. Check profile for more interesting questions that
1. Chapter 1

Don't Forget Me

Chapter 1

Naruto was getting ready for his training session starting in fifteen minutes. Today, he decided that he needed a new look. Ever since Sasuke had last insulted him with his constant sighing, his annoying glare and smartass little comments, Naruto had been thinking of adopting a new, more intellectual appearance. Maybe then, Naruto thought, Sasuke would finally feel a bit more intimidated by him and would hopefully behave more respectfully towards him. Sometimes, he felt as though people would just look at him and think he had done something stupid even though he did not do anything.

Naruto first tried to wear a mask like Kakashi, but finally abandoned the idea. The mask made him look quite mysterious and maybe even handsome, but when he tried to express his contentment, he did not hear himself loudly enough. He then put on a cape upon which he painted the words "Next Hokage". The young ambitious boy was pleased.

The pair of sharingan was staring at the seemingly impassive Juunin. The youngest of the Uchiha clan was trapped; he did not like it, more so because he knew his adversary was not even fighting at his best. Silent rage filled his heart because he knew his teacher was far more powerful than he ever showed. Furthermore, even the famous Copy Ninja was no match for his brother.

Although Sasuke skillfully blocked and ducked all of Kakashi's attacks, he was now cornered. He felt the rock cliff behind him. It was an open field in front of him with no place to hide to regroup. Adrenalin kicked in as he foresaw his teacher rushing at him and pinning him hard to the rocks. Kakashi's hands aimed his upper arms. It was difficult to react because of his lack of free movement. As Kakashi gripped his student's arms, Sasuke leaned back on the wall and tried to swing his legs up to his opponent's torso. Kakashi took the hit smoothly and banged his head hard enough into Sasuke's face to completely disorient him. The attacker backed away and relaxed his posture. As the boy plunged forward, having fast regained partial focus, the masked ninja's clone came out of the wall behind Sasuke and locked his arms. The boy was intimidated by his teacher's enormous physical strength; even as he tried to fidget, Kakashi's clone would not budge. He did not even need to tighten his grip.

_Strength comes from hatred. The more I despise Itachi, the closer I will be to eliminate him. I must be the one to kill him. I must not only be on a par with him. I have to surpass him and make him feel inferior, weak, before he dies._

"What will you do now, Sasuke?"

The real Kakashi seemed calm as he stood there looking down at his prey, but there was turmoil going on inside him. He recognized a tingling of curiosity. What will his talented student become? How strong can he grow? Will he ever be ready to accomplish his revenge?

He slowly drew his hand up towards his headband. He was a bit worried, but also a bit excited about what he was going to do next. This was the perfect training.

Sasuke's eyes turned back to normal as he began to weaken. His muscles were on fire after he tried so hard to break free. He felt a shadow of panick creeping in him. Yes, he had a hint about what he was about to endure. He badly needed to move away. Nobody should ever be able to...

"Sharingan!" Kakashi had exposed his hidden eye.

"Ahhh!" Sasuke jerked his whole body forward, using his feet to push on the clone's knees until his shoulders were about to break.

Kakashi was somehow inside the infuriated Uchiha. He had practiced this imbarable telepathic technique before, mostly to torture and interrogate prisoners in his younger days.

Sasuke's sharingan reappeared as he struggled to reject the invader. His mind was flooded by a single grave voice: "Sasuke..."

"Sasuke... you will fail." It echoed so loudly that his head was shaking. The clone vanished, no longer needed to restrain the student.

" You will fail. Listen to me! You will fail, not because you are weak, but because you are fighting for the wrong reasons. Power will not come from hatred. You should seek revenge not because you hate your brother, but because you want to do it for the memory of your family. You want to protect others from sharing their fate..." His voice faded because he saw the expression on his student's face. It would be enough for today.

Sasuke sat down and, as frustrated as he was against himself for not having been able to hit his teacher, some peace made way to his overcharged mind. Kakashi took out his treasured book as he kept an amazed eye on his student, noticing how fast he had recovered.

Fashionably late, Naruto prepared for his grand appearance. He proudly walked up to Sasuke and Kakashi, dressed in navy blue and wearing white gloves and complicated boots with metallic straps. Kakashi and Sasuke wore the exact expression on their faces. Naruto was happy, having interpreted their expression as awe and respect. They actually were just too shocked by the ridiculouslness Naruto exhibited.

" I'm ready!" he yelled, covering Kakashi and Sasuke's muffled laughs.

" I shouldn't have hurried to get here this time," the usually late teacher said. "Where's Sakura?"

"He scared her away," the young Uchiha said in his low and monotonous voice.

Naruto took off his camouflage hat and turned his head in all directions.

"Where is she? Huh?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The two rivals checked out Sakura's house, but found no one. Sasuke was on his way out, but Naruto was lingering in the pink-haired girl's room. Everything was cute and sort of fluffy in the ordely room, except for some shiny metallic thing that had fallen on the floor. It was two rings with tiny spikes all around it. They looked like little suns and they apparently were supposed to be attached together with the string that was lying next to them. The curious boy picked them up and negligently scraped his fingers with them. Sasuke standing outside, arms-crossed, heard him yell. He ran in and saw Naruto smiling excitedly holding the rings out for him to see.

" Here! Here, see! It's written 'Naruto' on this ring and 'Sakura' on this one! Oh! Oh! She was going to surprise me with this gift! A sure sign of her admiration for me."

Back at training ground, Kakashi announced that he would start teaching them how to send messages by birds even though Sakura did not show up. Disappointment showed on both his students' faces. The teacher was holding a tiny bird in his skilled hands. The docile creature had a paper stuck on his back. As the white haired copy ninja was about to give his instructions, Naruto was thinking about flying on Temari's fan and Sasuke was nodding, having guessed what his teacher was about to say.

Suddenly, out of the smoke appeared Iruka. He spoke in a low, urgent voice to Kakashi and vanished. While Kakashi was reflecting upon Iruka's message, Naruto was excitedly speculating about future action that might result from the sudden news.

Kakashi sent Sasuke and Naruto to go collect information on the whereabouts of their team mate. He told them to go separately, but added that it was still teamwork because they had to send eachother any information by means of the birds.

"Sakura could be in danger. Rumors of the presence of a suspicious group near our village have been circulating. So be quick and effective." Kakashi teleported.

"Sasuke, if you happen to find Sakura, by any chance, don't forget to tell me. I really don't want to be searching the whole day and waste the possibility for actual training." He continued, sighing, "Ah Sakura! If you were here, I might have learnt something more... powerful today!"

Sasuke smiled, satisfied by his teacher's decision to initiate him to more powerful sharingan techniques.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm heading to the ramen shop!"

"..."

"I figured that since I'm hungry now, Sakura might also be hungry right now. So, Sasuke, don't go look for her there."

"..."

Sasuke found Ino gathering provisions with Choji. Ino beamed of joy and ran towards her dream boy, leaving her partner alone with his precious food.

" How can I help you, Sasuke!"

She was feeling great until she heard the name of her rival: Sakura.

"I haven't seen her at all. I've been preparing for my new mission with Choji. I think they'll send us somewhere quite exotic. But, obviously, I should be looking for Sakura with you!"

"I think that it's highly probably that she has been captured by this new clan."

"Oh, don't worry. She's a tough girl. We can take our time..."

_This is the greatest opportunity I ever had to be alone with Sasuke! I can't believe Sakura is the one offering it to me!_

"We need Kiba," the once arrogant Sasuke said.

Ino growled interiorly.

Kiba was proud to be of help. Akamaru and himself lead the way. They soon arrived at a part of the village where there were less habitations. A pale green meadow stretched out in front of them and they could not perceive any hiding places.

"Are you sure Sakura has been here?" Sasuke asked, still in his deep mature voice.

"Let's have a picnic; it's pretty here!" Ino exclaimed, her eyes glowing.

The two boys did not answer. They were deep in their reflections. The dog bounced through the land and started barking. It seemed as though Akamaru could not detect Sakura's scent any further than that point. When the three approached, they realized there was a small stream flowing towards some rocky patches in the landscape where the woods took over.

" She did not cross over, she walked on water maybe," Kiba said.

"It doesn't look like it's easy to walk on that fast flowing stream... or even in the stream. And I don't think she went swimming in there," Ino added, dying to stare into Sasuke's wonderful eyes.

"She was probably carried by some high rank ninja..."

Sasuke stepped onto the water and fell on his ass. He continued calmly: " I guess they went that way. It would be too forceful to go upstream."

They ran towards the woods while Akamaru joyfully floated down the stream. The forest was dense and the trees were only as high as a house. Ino, Sasuke, Kiba and his trusted friend were jumping swiftly and silently from branch to branch, searching for suspects and any sign of pink.

Sasuke felt a projectile coming towards him. He ducked. Another one targeted him, but hit Ino's head first. The first projectile turned around and flew back at the astonished Sasuke. He caught it in his palms. It was a bird carrying a message from Naruto. The second bird poked Ino's forehead and left its droppings on her shirt.

"These beasts should really be used as weapons!" cried Ino.

Sasuke unsealed the papers and read:

" Hey bastard! Did you receive this message? Kakashi-sensei's explanations were so unclear!"

He opened the second one with lower expectations.

"It's me again. Sakura is NOT in the ramen shop. Also, Pervert Sennin is NOT the one who kidnapped her. He beat me up for asking."

" What useless information?" Kiba laughed.

Another flying creature ended its travel almost dying on Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto had chosen a really ugly looking, handicapped bird. His third message gave a bit more information to the exasperated Uchiha.

"Sasuke-chan, hello. I heard that a jounnin team was not searching for Sakura but for a small group of unknown individuals that will supposedly disturb the village's peace in an upcoming surprise attack."

"Have they no name?" Kiba asked, frowning.

"We will soon find out," whispered Sasuke as he blended into the shadows.

He saw a man wandering around coming in their direction. He was wearing a red outfit with unknown symbols on the back. His long spiky hair was held back by a golden head band. The three circled him. He seemed surprised, but looked quite enthusiastic.

"Who are you? Who are you working for? Are you from Konoha?" Sasuke interrogated.

The stranger remained silent; it seemed as though he was thinking hard.

"Hum. I don't know? Do I know you?" he asked in return.

He observed them questioningly.

"Tell us where you come from!" Kiba pressured as Akamaru walked around the man, growling.

"All I know is that I have been walking from... that direction." He pointed to the East. "And don't ask me anymore questions. I am myself looking for the Truth. I am mesmerized by this beautiful nature, and my spirit will become united with it and it will guide me towards my purpose."

The weird man seemed amazed by his own sincere words. He walked past the trio, smiling and saying: "I am free now! Free!"

"He is so completely nuts!" Ino spoke their thoughts.

"Maybe the 'suspicious clan' people have been talking about are actually just a bunch of people escaped from an insane asylum. Then I'd understand why he was so happy to be free," Kiba hypothesized. He soon felt eerie chills because his theories actually made sense.

"I see... So Sakura could have been mistakingly (or not) taken into the insane asylum. She does look crazy sometimes, you agree Sasuke?"

"Yeah... uh... well, let's go see if Kiba's correct. Stay on your guards."

"Follow me!" Kiba leapt forward with Akamaru in his coat.

The moment he jumped over the intertwined branches, a net slapped him and wrapped around him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ino was also caught in it as she ducked a huge trunk swinging at her. Another trunk slammed into Sasuke from behind, but the Sharingan user gripped its sides with his arms and legs and was not trapped. Kiba was at the bottom of the net that was tied expertly with many ropes to the surrounding branches. Ino was standing on her toes on Kiba's chest and her neck was stuck at the net's opening. Her wrists were tucked under her chin, stopping the net from completely strangling her. She was choking, but she luckily managed to stick her arm out. The small opening was tightening itself more and more. Kiba was glued with honey-like slime in which the net was soaked. The slime was a paralysing susbstance and made Kiba weaker and weaker. He felt his strength evaporating. Using all his might, he pushed Ino upwards through the opening and his arms fell down at his side. It was his last movement. Ino pulled herself out as the slime was prickling her skin and the ropes tore her clothes. Sasuke caught her as she fell. Kiba was emprisoned and looked dead. The net's opening had disappeared and Kiba's body was being tightly wrapped into the trap.

"Kiba! Hold on!" Sasuke yelled as he took out his shurikens.

"No...no... Don't come near..." Kiba mumbled.

Sasuke became cautious as he distinghuished another trap. He also felt the presence of other more dissimulated ones. He threw his shurikens towards the ropes, but they were too solid to be cut down. Soon, flies, mosquitoes and other insects converged and invaded the net, attracted by the gooey slime. Kiba could not even yell. Akamaru could not do anything either, having been caught with its master. Sasuke had to do something fast. He risked plunging directly towards the prisoner from the top of a tree, at full speed. A bomb exploded near him, just missing his head. It was probably contained in a flour bag because Sasuke started choking on the white powder that formed a big, blinding cloud around him. Four big sharp objects were projected at him, or maybe Kiba, but Sasuke managed to block them. He rolled onto the floor next to Ino and pushed her towards a safer spot.

He tore his shirt off and wiped the poison off the girl's face and neck with it. Her muscles were still quite numb, but she could move a bit, shakily. She threw off her own shirt which was impregnated with the paralyzing substance. Her body was not critically poisoned.

"What... what can we do now? Who knows what crazy people have planned!"

Sasuke sent a messenger bird to Kakashi explaining their odd situation and giving him their location. Kakashi received the news from Sasuke and promptly sent medical ninjas to rescue Kiba.

He was now following an undergroung tunnel from right above it. He was not that far from where Sasuke and Ino were, so he sent them a message indicating a meeting point.

Kakashi heard people approaching from underneath and quickly immersed into darkness, though he continued to move in the same direction as the footsteps. He was deep in concentration, focusing on recognizing the voices. Quite abruptly, he threw himself on the ground, escaping a sort of giant austrich zooming in on him. It quacked loudly as it handed Kakashi a message from Naruto. No time to read, the people he was tracking revealed themselves.

One by one, the red silhouettes emerged from an invisible crevice. They were four, all dressed in the same flashy red color. A big golden flat hat covered one of the people's head, the other three had unrecognizable head bands. They were crouched one behind the other, almost crawling to move forward. Kakashi guessed that they wanted to escape the traps they had assembled to protect their main base. What they did not know was that he had destroyed almost all of them. Maybe they were just the sentry, he thought. So how many could they be?

As the leader turned towards his followers to give them some orders, Rock Lee's face was revealed.

The shock almost made Kakashi burst out laughing. Was this a clone, a twin? It was now Lee's turn to be surprised when Kakashi appeared in front of him. His eyebrows almost jumped out of his face

"Rock Lee, what the hell are you doing?" Kakashi blurted.

"Halt companions!" Lee first said, examining Kakashi.

"Yes captain!" the others echoed.

"Tenten?" Kakashi just recognized Lee's partner.

The two others were an innofensive looking girl with shiny, dreamy eyes and a happy-go-lucky young man who carried weird, maybe useless artifacts in his pockets. The red haired girl whispered softly to Tenten as she eyed the tall masked man.

" What game are you playing?" the elite ninja asked the bunch of joyous youngsters.

" Treasure hunting! Join us!" Tenten replied.

The red head approached, a smile widening on her face. Kakashi felt no threat from her.

"Hey, let me wipe off that bird dropping you have on her back."

"Hum?"

She slowly pur her hand up barely brushing against his jacket. He froze, but not of fear. Even as she rapidly made hand seals and mumbled something under her breath, he did not defend himself. The young woman formed a cross with her hands and gazed deeply into his eye. He did not know what to do in this strange situation.

" Wipe out!" she exclaimed.

A tingling noise in his head was swallowing his thoughts. He unconsciously recorded that a colorful vapor had emanated from her head. Something had also expanded out of his own and absorbed the rainbow mist. _I have never seen this one before... What a harmless technique!_ He fell asleep.

" This one looked dangerous," Lee said.

" Good job!"

" Hey, did he call me Tenten?" Tenten shook her head cluelessly.

" Now he's on our side for the great Treasure Hunt!" the red head said.

They all smiled gleefully as they dragged the great copy ninja with them.

Meanwhile, Naruto had convinced Shikamaru to join him on his important, even maybe historical mission. They crossed Kiba and the medical ninjas who were heading to the hospital. Naruto was instructed to ambush or spy on anyone suspicious going in Kakashi's opposite direction.

Naruto was too thrilled about the potential upcoming action and could not stay still. Shikamaru had set up an ingenious trap and having done his job, he laid half sleeping in a tree crevice nearby. Too hyperactive for this job of patience, Naruto headed hastily to the possible secret location of the organization, leaving his apathic friend to his contemplation of the clouds.

Soon, a house was in view. Naruto precipitated himself against its door, while realizing that it could have been a trap. It wasn't. Sakura was standing behind the broken door.

" Sakura! There you are!"

_Hehe... I found her before Sasuke._

She was giggling, so Naruto started to giggle too, his hand behind his head.

_What's funny?_

"So what're you doing here? Do you need some rescuing or something?" he continued heartily.

She shifted her shoulders, still grinning and an older man, who looked like a hermit, arrived from behind. Another younger man, with short black hair, stood up from a chair to salute Naruto.

_Who are these people! I see... I understand... No I don't!_

"Sakura! Can we go now?" he whispered.

She turned towards the hermit ans asked: "Who is this boy?"

"Ahhh!" Naruto took a step back, suspicious.

"I'm so sorry, boy," the hermit said. "She seems to have lost her memory. This young man here found her unconscious, lying on the ground."

Naruto's mouth opened wide.

"Are you my boyfriend?" Sakura whishfully asked, approaching the stunned blond.

"Hehehe..." Naruto blushed, but did not reply.

"You should take her back then," said the young man.

"Thank you, Ori."

Smiling, she slowly went towards Naruto and grabbed his arm like she would have with Sasuke.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ino was living her dream adventure with Sasuke, the ever popular dark boy. They have been crawling in the mud, attacked by skunks and tricked by genjutsu. The sky darkened by imposing clouds and waterfalls splashed them. The powerful wind pushed them backwards.

"It's just another illusion," Sasuke said simply.

Ino was not convinced. She was still shivering and out of breath, so Sasuke finally had to drag her with one arm.

"Which direction?" she asked distractedly. _His heart will open as we face adversity together. Our love will grow deep as the misery we encounter will push us to rely on each other..._

" Someone is behind this, someone who knows what he's doing. This is the person we must interrogate." _Perfect. Genjutsu is used to mess up the mind. Its goal is similar to that of Kakashi's sharingan technique. This is a great opportunity to gain experience..._ He remembered what happened to him and his partners back in the forest during the exam. The enemy would appear when they would be exhausted.

"Arrgh! My feet!" Ino was being sucked down into the muddy earth.

She threw herself flat on the stomach and gripped some roots. The tree whose roots she was clinging to moved itself over onto her unguarded body. She was squished by its weight and the rain water was already up to her nostrils. Meanwhile, Sasuke who was standing still, meditating, flung his arms towards the tree trunk to pull it upwards, but it was no use: his arms went through as if it was only a ghost. He struggled to get his knees out of the quicksand, then pretended to stagger from exhaustion. He dropped down, face first, screaming in agony. His partner gasped in horror and jerked upright into the tree trunk that vanished from her mind. She soon realized she made a wrong move. Sasuke's finger was moving. He was telling her to get back down and stay still.

A few minutes later, the genjutsu's activity stopped. Ino and Sasuke's bodies were propulsed by a phenomenal blow and landed fifteen meters further.

"Now! Run!" They both stood up and sprinted towards their attacker.

Ino plunged her kunei into the enemy's stomach. Gone. He had appeared behind Sasuke. _Predictable._ Sasuke was already spinning around and pushed the man down on his back and pinned him with several kunei.

"Possession technique!" Ino exclaimed, aiming the immobilized man.

The man in the dark cloak with a hood was laughing loudly, his mouth wide open.

"You thought you got me! It has been fun guarding the base all by myself. Now get lost! Go call backup. Tell all your elite force to come this way. I'll be waiting..."

Sasuke was really annoyed that he could not defy the enemy. Moreover, he did not get any information, except for the fact that his opponent was strong and was alone. They had walked away from the enemey's territory because the genjutsu was getting worse and worse. The pair of sharingan caught sight of some living beings close by. They arrived at the hermit's house and Ino saw Sakura clinging on Naruto.

"Oh, Sakura! You never told me you had a change of heart! I'm glad! I'm glad!"

"His name is Naruto," Sakura announced proudly.

"Uh huh..."

"Hi! My name is Ino! This is my boyfriend Sasuke."

She was in heaven. _Nice! Naruto! Thanks for whatever you did to her._

Sasuke sighed. Sakura hardly noticed her dream boy, now not looking his best. He still had flour in his hair, he was dirty with mud and grass stains.

"Once we get back, I'll treat you to the finest ramen in the world, then I'll tell you all the great stories you forgot," Naruto said to his new girlfriend.

"Don't..." Sasuke was going to say 'Don't brainwash her'.

"Sasuke! You jealous!" Naruto yelled.

Some constant whispering disturbed Shikamaru's peace. It came from a nearby bush. The voices sounded familiar.

"No... This can't be..."

"What are we going to do?"

"Ahh! Don't make that face! It's embarrassing!"

After some hesitation, Shikamaru popped in the bushes.

"Hi there... what uh... are you two doing there... together..." the lazy boy said, scratching his head.

"Ahhh!" Neji and Hinata screamed as Shikamaru discovered them. They looked awkward. Hinata started running away from the astonished intruder.

"Wait! Don't... don't leave me!" Neji called after his cousin.

It freaked Shikamaru out.

"Stop it! You're embarrassing me again! Now run!" Hinata urged.

"Hey hey! You two, it's just me: Shikamaru. And by the way don't go there..."

Hinata kept tripping and falling and Neji caught up, but bumped into her and they both were caught in the roots Shikamaru had set up. The dangled upside down, face to face, exasperated. As Shikamaru detached them, he noticed that Neji was always whimpering and Hinata was kept silent in frustration.

"Ok. What's up with you."

_Damn, I'm going to regret asking this._

"Uh... you can tell me if you have a uh problem. I'm not someone who criticizes."

_There is something extremely wrong here: Neji never blushed before!_

The three of them sat down in a small circle, sighing. Surprisingly, Hinata spoke first, firmly, but stuttering a bit: "This must be kept extremely confidential."

_Obviously, it's a big deal that they're going out together. Is there something else too? Oh man, I feel I'm going to be threatened._

"This is serious!" she added loudly.

"You can speak, Hinata."

Neji's muscles contracted, his teeth clenched as he threw a sideways glance at the girl with cute short hair.

"I'm Neji. I'm stuck in her body," Hinata declared.

Shikamaru felt he was in a situation as delicate as theirs, so he shut up.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"We really need to switch back. As you can see, we are not adapted to our body..." Hinata, who really was Neji, said.

_What if I need to... I don't even know how to do it! This is the most embarrassing moment of my life. I hope she didn't drink too much water today..._

"Can you help us?" Neji, who really was Hinata, said in the softest voice.

"Then you have to tell me what happened."

"I don't think you could actually do something about this crisis. There's more to it: Kabuto will try to kill us."

_I knew it! No more peace for me! Damn Naruto. Ok, ok, calm down. I am always calm..._

"I see, you want me to go get more appropriate help. What's Kabuto doing in the story though," the depressed genius said.

"I was supposed to fight Lee and Tenten in a two against one challenge tomorrow. I wanted to give them some specifications. I couldn't find them and Master Gai said he has not seen them for a long time. I followed Juunins in here and Hinata followed me to look for Sakura. We saw a fight between Juunins of Konoha with strange ninjas in red suits. They were two against two Juunins and they were beaten unconscious by the ennemy. I was about to help when Kabuto appeared. He seemed pleased to see us. He attacked us both at the same time. Us switching bodies was not the expected result. The three of us were shocked for a moment, then he charged at us, but stopped when other people in red came near. Kabuto went to them and they disappeared."

"He's with them?"

"Seems like it, though he wasn't wearing the same outfit."

(Shikamaru) _Ok, why me?_

(Neji) _This is a bad price to pay to get to be a member of the Soke._

(Hinata) _Maybe I'll be more noticeable looking like Neji... But Naruto will never like me now..._

"What do we do now? I mean uh.. I know exactly what we should do next...ummm," Naruto started.

"Kakashi might have some new instructions for us. We are supposed to meet..." Sasuke did not finish.

Shikamaru was running towards the group, seeming at his most anxious state. Neji and Hinata followed, but stayed silently behind their savior. They have never looked so miserable either.

"Kakashi has gone mad," he announced in a doomed tone.

Everyone reacted as though it was the end of the world.

"Are you certain?" Sasuke risked saying.

"Well... Let's just state that we saw him with a group of four people in red outfits. One had a big flat hat and was leading them. We could not see their faces. But we saw that he was holding hands with one of them..." He paused.

"Another bad news is that Kabuto is going to kill Hinata and Neji... and probably all of us too."

"Traitor day, eh?" Ino said gloomily.

"Oh, hi Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning.

Neji seemed suddenly pleased. He lightened up and was about to greet Naruto, but Hinata squashed his foot.

"Huh?"

_Hinata looks crazy too._ Naruto stared at her suspiciously.

(Ino) _Ok, Hinata is jealous of Sakura... but Neji... there's something fishy about him too. Oh but maybe he always looked suspicious._

(Sakura) _Oh, it's couple day!_

"Uh...uh... Hinata and Neji are really uh... tired from their traumatizing encounter with Kabuto. Let's just go home and we'll see what we can do."

"Good idea," Sakura said. "Who is he?" she asked Naruto.

(Shikamaru, trying to convince himself) _I'm simply having a nightmare._

Back at the village, they all treated themselves to a bowl of ramen, except for Shikamaru who had to volunteer to go give the bad news to the anbu's headquarters.

Most of the anbus were posted in the city, but some have been sent to search for Kakashi and to stop the strange red people in their mind disturbing plan.

Neji was feeling left out of Naruto's conversation. Hinata was observing how ridiculous he looked like. Sasuke had diverted his attention to Hinata.

"What do you want," she said aggressively. "Uh... Neji, we have to go..."

"They want to spend some time alone together. Isn't it cute!" Sakura exclaimed.

"No! Uh I enjoy your company," Neji said, hopeful. "I mean I know... uh" Neji felt all eyes on him, but this was his only chance to express himself. " Hinata said that she liked you a lot, Naruto."

"Since when are you so nice Neji? Uh anyway thanks Hinata. But you should express yourself more you know. It would have been great if you said it yourself."

"Don't look at me like that! Neji, we have something to do."

Neji bumped on people on his way out.

"That guy sure lost his coolness." Ino laughed.

"Naruto, bring me around a bit before you take me to the doctor," Sakura insisted.

He smiled triumphantly. Ino was left with the uncomfortable Sasuke.

"We should go take a shower," Ino suggested.

"Separately," Sasuke added just to make sure.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

" You are fabulous, darling!" the red head complimented.

"You..." The masked ninja sighed, content.

It seemed as though everything was going perfectly. When was the last time he felt this way?

"Come on! We're being followed!" Lee yelled.

They had just broke out of their second bank, handful. Kakashi would stroll in casually and be saluted by a couple, then he'd suddenly threaten everyone, taking them hostages by surprise as his red team would rush in and take everything. They'd be so quick that the anbu would be stunned. Two of the guards had their memory wiped out by the young female. No one was harmed. They were having a great time.

They snuck in the deserted rooms of the battle stadium. Kakashi thought that three consecutive successes would be improbable. The word would be out that two banks were robbed by the same people on the same day; the others would be cautious. They drew a map showing where they would bury their treasure. They spread it out on the floor to admire it before packing it.

Four anbus burst into their hiding place. Two of them had actually no idea what they were doing because they too had lost their memory. They all stood still, planning.

"Surrender now or we will attack without pity," one anbu said in a deadly voice.

"Let's fight and the winner can take the treasure," one of the lost anubu said.

His team mates arched their eyebrows.

"That's a bright idea, although we had another plan," Lee said.

"What is your goal, Kakashi," the other anbu asked, pensive.

_Maybe he's just pretending to be a traitor... Maybe he's on a mission to infiltrate their organization. But how could the others trust him?_

They looked at each other, tense.

"You are really famous, darling Kakashi," the red head whispered.

"What is your goal buddy?" he asked in return.

"Add spice in our game?" the other guy said, slowly pulling out his weapons.

"They're trying to stop our Treasure Hunt," Tenten added.

"Wait...wait! I want to be on your side. Where can I get the outfit?" the other lost anbu asked.

His comment was a trigger for the fight to begin. The anbu closest to him hit him with a powerful punch in the stomach, an elbow stab in the chest and a flexible kick in the face. The anbu who got hit threw off his mask. He appeared behind his attacker and blew him agaisnt the wall with a terrible water jutsu.

Kakashi filled the room with his clones. The fight was taken into the main stadium. The two mindless anbus who decided to reveal their faces were fighting everyone, even each other. The ninja in Lee's team with the strange artifacts in his pockets was using them wisely. They were smoke bombs, metal wires, flying disks and daggers. He was at one extremety of the ring and Tenten at the other. They combined their attacks to aim at the competent anbus.

Soon, the two anbus were knocked out. The other anbus bid the red group farewell. They had fun and they wanted more. They had the urge to shake things up.

Everywhere around the village were posted the pictures and descriptions of the new rebels as they were called. The knocked out anbus had reported to the Kage's council.

"Sakura, see how popular our teacher is? And see how courageous he is to start his own rebellion! I wonder if it would be profitable for me to join," Naruto said.

"Can I join too?" she asked.

"Idiot, he's wanted because he lost his mind, brainwashed. I wonder who's doing this," Sasuke said.

_Wait a minute... Sakura has lost her mind too... I hope someone knows what's going on here. Is Orochimaru behind this? How powerful is he!_

"Ahhh! What can we do about this?" Naruto pulled on his hair.

"Oh Naruto, I have to go!" Sakura said, running away.

"Uh?"

"Naruto, we've got to follow her... She's being controlled somehow," Sasuke warned his friend.

"Hum..." Naruto was deep in his thoughts.

_Sasuke is trying to get her attention again. He thinks he knows everything. But Sakura is finally thinking clearly. Is she? She has been extremely nice to me... there must be a second reason..._

Explosions were heard nearby. The two fearless companions jumped on the roof of a house. Naruto landed on dog shit.

"Noooo! Even here! Oh! Hahaha! You stepped on some too!"

Sasuke focused his attention towards the Kage's tower. A quarter of the roof was blown up. Anbus were fighting against many other people. The strangers were not dressed in the riduculous red outfits. The houses nearby had all their windows shut. Merchants were running away as far as possible. Fathers and teachers were calling their young to go hide in a safer place. The sun was setting, making everything turn red.

"Let's go! Let's go!" cried Naruto.

He was running full speed directly towards the action. He put on the brakes as he faced the imposing tower that was giving off smoke. As he was contemplating the possibility of a heroic entrance, Sasuke called him.

"Naruto..." The low whisper sent shivers up his spine, more so when he realized Sasuke was a block away, camouflaged in the walls' shadows. However, he felt the voice came from so near that he thought Sasuke had used some kind of eerie telepathic power. Naruto was still standing in the middle of the road with a perplexed look on his face.

"Naruto! Are you making yourself a bait or what!" Sasuke was frustrated and came out of his hiding place to wave at his partner. "What the hell were you thinking about?"

"Uh...Haha..."

"Just put these on." Sasuke handed Naruto one of the red outfits he took from two unconscious mysterious clan members.

"Nice! Hey, my outfit looks so new, I think I'll keep it."

Sasuke was deep in his reflections. He did not understand anything. Who was behind this? Why? What is Kabuto doing in this if he is not working for Orochimaru. Where is that crazy snake man anyways?

Orochimaru was actually standing in a tree on the far side of the city looking down on everyone. Kabuto sat on a branch leaning against the trunk of the tree. They were silent for a while as they observed the war going on without them.

" They are killing each other off!" the Sennin said. "They're destroying Konoha just like I wanted..." he continued, his voice rising. " But I have no part in this?"

"Once those ninjas gone insane and the competent ninjas of Konoha get tired and their number are reduced, you take over!" The young medical ninja smiled.

"Kabuto, you say that nobody from the organization distrusts you? Your spying has been going on too easily."

" They distrust no one. They have been recruiting non-stop. They really are nuts."

"You have an idea who is behind this?"

"No. The followers don't seem to have a clue." Kabuto chuckled and replaced his glasses once more.

" Well, I do know... The only organization capable of doing this...without anyone knowing in advance... The only people capable of beating me... the Akatsuki!" He looked down at his useless hands. Kabuto was not as certain.

"Why would they want to take over Konoha? Why now?"

"Go back to work. Make sure you find out their secret: how they mind wipe others and make them vulnerable to their influence," he ordered. He continued to himself: "Fun. The master mind used Konoha's own agents to overtake Konoha."

There was an intense concentration of powerful chakra in the main floor of the tower. The blasting noise had stopped for a while. Both the enemy and the council of the Hokage were thinking rapidly and coming up with strategies to break the opponent's position. It was actually pretty hard to distinguish one team from the other. They were mostly all members of the elite force! But half of them had no masks and were fighting everyone. There were also younger ninjas, maybe Middle class. They were wrecking havoc, but they were the first to be neutralized.

_Where is everyone?_ Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, was worried but somewhat excited to be able to stop her daily boring city planning. She may have been asleep when the roof exploded. Everything that happened before that seemed to have vanished into insignificance. The smoke was particularly dense in the tower, but after a moment of running in the halls, Tsunade did not perceive any fire. She broke down the door to the conference room. In the corner was the clerk she just talked to in the morning. He was completely immobile. As a silhouette was rushing by in the hall, she suddenly shoved him aside. She drew up her arm for a punch, but the anbu exclaimed: "I'm on your side!" He grabbed her fist and they teleported out of the tower into the streets just as the fog was starting to squeeze them, as if alive.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Konoha elite forcethose who were still functionning normallyreceived order to capture all people participating or aiding in disrupting order. Anyone perceived as brainwashed or anyone reporting amnesia was being protected and examined closely. The village was chaotic where the fights were going on, but extremely quiet where the common villagers were hidden in fear. It had only been a couple of months since Orochimaru attacked with giant snakes.

The enemies would once again not conquer Konoha. They were losing. The strength of the protectors of the village was phenomenal. Only hours after the invasion, the elite force's strategic moves, courage and endurance proved to be essential to their close victory. Five enemies died by accided due to their own impulsiveness. Twenty one were captured and were no more threat. They were about fifteen left, the craziest ones still blasting everything and everyone crossing their path.

"Where's Tsunade? That old lady better not get trapped like the Third did," Naruto yelled jumping up the stairs.

"Stop Naruto!" Sasuke warned as the step ahead of them melted in a burst of flames.

The two young ninjas fled into the halls and came face to face with a Juunin laughing like a maniac. He had a bleeding wound on his stomach and his clothes were burnt.

"Let me free your mind, little kids..." he said approaching slowly. "I won't let you run away now."

He lifted both his arms and aimed his palms at the two. He made a cross with his hands.

_How to block this technique!_

The Juunin was fast! He was already behind them and said: "Wipe out!"

Before he could push their back and erase their memories, Naruto boldly jabbed him in the stomach. He bent down temporarily and Sasuke wacked him with a high kick to the chin. It turned out to be a chair. The enemy was now between them, clutching both their collars.

A green silhouette pounced on the man and knocked him out with his inescapable embrace.

"Ah! Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke! I'll take care of him now. Please, please tell me where my precious student Rock Lee is?" Master Gai was crying as he was choking his victim.

The blond pigtail woman was standing on the bridge all alone. Two enemies had tried to escape her wrath, but were soon stopped short by her accompanying guards who took them away. Tsunade had no time to think up til this moment. There was a powerful mastermind behind all this trouble. The person had brainwashed many good Konoha pepole and dictated their actions. The people who were brainwashed in turn could do the same to others and that was why there were so many under the enemy's influence.

"Ah... The Fifth Hokage... looking so vulnerable..." a bitter voice said.

She was surprised because there was no one around her. There! She noticed an eye in the condensing mist. She punched the air where she thought the voice came from. Nothing. A hand grabbed her wrist and forced her to cover her mouth with her palm.

"Shh... now. Just listen."

Tsunade jerked away and could no longer distinguish the hand that grabbed her. What is he waiting for to attack me?

"I'm not going to attack you now because I need to tell you why."

"Because you hate peace?"

"Hum. I just want to expose the truth. And I also want redemption."

He was tall, in his early thirties and had a beautiful smile. His hair, in a Navy cut, was even paler than Tsunade's. A handsome man like this could not be easily forgotten. The Hokage had studied his picture on his file marked S-class missing nin. Who was he again?

"They call me Bunny now," he grinned as he sat onto the bridge's edge and loosened his kimono, a black kimono with red flowers.

"The members of the Akatsuki call you Bunny? I'm guessing you're not the leader."

He frowned. "Thanks to my self-propagating mind cleansing technique, I am the leader now. The leader for the most important mission we ever had."

"Destroying Konoha, what an original mission."

"Oh. This is why I am meeting you today. To clear things up. Our goal is not to destroy Konoha. And I've nothing against you personally. I'm looking for something."

"Yeah, I know... the Kyubi."

"Well... that and an expertly hidden box. A Pandora box for your government, I can say. It contains the truth about twelve years ago."


End file.
